The NBA is preparing for the possibility that some games on its 2020/21 regular season schedule will have to be postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 complications. The league has only announced the first half of the schedule so far in order to accommodate those potential postponements and cancellations during the second half.
However, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN, the NBA isn’t establishing specific rules or guidelines that will govern when a game will be postponed or canceled. In other words, there won’t be a predetermined number of positive coronavirus tests per team that would result in an automatic postponement.
As Holmes explains, the league will evaluate each scenario on a case-by-case basis, considering variables like how many positive coronavirus cases were found, and when and where they occurred.
For example, Holmes says, if two teams have a similar number of COVID-19 cases, but one club had potential spread in its facility whereas the other club had only isolated incidents, the league may treat the two teams differently.
Local and state coronavirus restrictions and guidelines also figure to vary from team to team and could be a factor in determining whether certain games can take place, Holmes notes.
Willing to bet that if players test positive, who it is will figure in as well…
You mean like Lamar Jackson vs the Denver Broncos?
It’s great to be flexible but remains to be seen how this works with no clear direction…
Flexibility is nice and all, but something like this needs clear and concise rules. This is not something like dropping a donut and invoking the 5 second rule. Teams need to be aware of what WILL happen in every likely case they come up against, not what might happen.